Mary Alice Braukman is an innovative artist who continually finds new ways to present images that evoke a sense of motion and dimension. Braukman teaches workshops in experimental watermedia and collage for intermediate and advanced painters throughout the country. She is a popular teacher who is generous in sharing her discoveries with students and describes her workshops as “adventures in risk-taking.” Emphasizing design, composition, and individual style, she encourages personal creative expression, the use of new and varied materials, and a love for the artistic process. She works primarily in mixed watermedia, collage, and assemblages. Her work has won numerous awards and her paintings have appeared in various art books and magazines.

Braukman taught art in the public school system of Hillsborough County, Florida, and acted as an art consultant for a school district near Denver. She was the president of the Florida Watercolor Society in 1991 and 1992 and served on the society’s executive board until 1998. She was also the director of Kanuga Watercolor Workshops, held at the Kanuga Conference Center, in Hendersonville, North Carolina, until her retirement last year. Braukman also served as the guest editor for Watercolor magazine in the winter 2001 issue.

In addition to teaching, the artist also consults, lectures, and serves as juror in national, state, and regional watermedia exhibitions. She has been awarded signature memberships from the National Watercolor Society, the Florida Watercolor Society, the Society of Experimental Artists, and the National Acrylic Painters Association, among others.

As a renowned watercolor and acrylic artist, collagist, teacher, author, and juror, Gerald F. Brommer is completely involved in the world of art. Brommer is both the author and editor of more than 35 art books—many of which are used as texts in art schools and colleges—and developer of 12 instructional art videos.

He is a life member, and the former president, of the National Watercolor Society and is the honorary president of the National Association of Painters in Acrylic. He is a member of the West Coast Watercolor Society and the National Arts Club, among other organizations.

Brommer has won awards in many national competitive watercolor shows and has had more than 165 solo exhibitions. His work has been included in more than 200 international exhibitions, including ones held by the American Watercolor Society; the National Academy of Design, in New York City; the Royal Watercolour Society, in London; the Butler Institute of American Art, in Youngstown, Ohio; and the Laguna Art Museum, in Laguna Beach, California. He is represented in more than 4,000 private collections in 37 states, in five countries overseas, and by galleries in Carmel, Claremont, and Laguna Beach, all in California; Tampa; Hamilton, Bermuda; and London.

After 26 years of teaching high school, he continues to teach by leading workshops both nationally and abroad.

Jeanne Carbonetti has been an artist and teacher for more than 30 years. Specializing in developing the power of the creative process, she is the author of four books: The Tao of Watercolor and its companion video; The Zen of Creative Painting; The Yoga of Drawing; and Making Pearls: Living the Creative Life (all Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, New York). She has developed a unique method for emphasizing the fluidity of transparent color and uses this technique to reinforce her special vision of natural rhythms.

Her books and workshops are rich, liberating experiences for professional artists and beginners alike. Carbonetti guides her readers and students in exploring the basics of the language of art, in applying the Zen principles of blending body, mind, and spirit, and in following an intuitive rather than purely logical approach. As an artist, Carbonetti believes strongly in the power of beauty to enhance the quality of life. She feels that art is not a luxury but a necessity.

She runs Crow Hill Gallery of Fine Art and The Eden Center for Creative Power, both in Chester, Vermont. By invitation, she exhibited at the Fifth International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Florence, Italy, in December of 2005. Her paintings are in collections both private and corporate throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Betty Carr’s energetic style and enthusiasm for painting and teaching create an infectious atmosphere of adventure and a “can-do” attitude among her students. She has traveled the country for many years teaching workshops and has recently published her first instructional book, Seeing the Light: An Artist’s Guide (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio). Her work has also been included in Splash 5 and various other publications.

Carr earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, in Santa Cruz, and a fine-arts degree from San José State University. In the last 25 years she has taught art to students of all levels, from elementary school through college. When not teaching, Carr contributes regularly to books and magazines as both author and illustrator. A series of lecture commitments and exhibitions fills the rest of her schedule.

Teaching has honed Carr’s distinctive painting style—one that blends her love of nature with her more specific love of flowers. “What catches my eye is the effect light has on form, whether it’s fleeting, spilling over, or striking. I challenge myself to capture its drama and subtleties. The spontaneous qualities of watercolor lend themselves perfectly to my impressionistic style of painting: I strive for confident, enthusiastic brushwork, maximizing color’s value and intensity, and a fresh, painterly approach—the result appearing effortless.”

Her award-winning paintings have been featured in International Artist, Art of the West, Southwest Art, and previously in American Artist. She is a signature member of Knickerbocker Artists and has been recognized with numerous juried awards.

A busy portraitist, Roberta Carter Clark has been represented by Portraits, Inc., in New York City, since 1974, and her commissioned portraits are in the private collections of hundreds of families throughout the United States and England. More of her portraits are in public and corporate collections, including those of universities, hospitals, and banks.

Her paintings have received awards at various national exhibitions, such as those held by The American Watercolor Society, the National Academy of Design, in New York City, Allied Artists of America, the Midwest Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, the Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors, and the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club. She has juried both state and national exhibitions and has become a popular demonstrator, teaching portrait- and figure-painting workshops across the country.

Clark is the author of How to Paint Living Portraits and Painting Vibrant Children’s Portraits (both North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio). She is also a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America (master status), the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, the New Jersey Watercolor Society, and the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, among others.

Timothy J. Clark is constantly creating. His sketchbook, paints, and easel travel with him almost everywhere he goes. Clark’s work—primarily landscapes, portraits, and interiors in watercolor and oil—can be found in the permanent collections of several museums, including the Farnsworth Art Museum, in Rockland, Maine; The El Paso Museum of Art, in Texas; and Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, in Washington, DC. The artist’s sketchbook of drawings of Ground Zero, created on-site within days of the September 11 attack, is in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

A faculty member at the Art Students League of New York, in Manhattan, and a professor of art at Coastline College, in Fountain Valley, California, Clark has also taught at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, the Worcester Art Museum, in Massachusetts, and the National Academy School of Fine Arts, in New York City. He serves on the alumni board of the California Institute of the Arts, in Valencia, California, and maintains studios in Capistrano Beach, California; West Bath, Maine; and New York City.

Clark’s work has been featured in recent international exhibitions at the Allied Museum, in Berlin, and the Danubiana-Meulensteen Museum, in Bratislava, Slovakia, and within the country in spring 2005 exhibitions at Hammer Galleries, in New York City; The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, in Dallas; the George Orr Museum, in Biloxi, Mississippi; the Keyes Gallery, in Springfield, Missouri; and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, in Rockport, Maine.

Clark recently received the William A. Paton Award at the National Academy Museum’s 175th Annual Exhibition, as well as both the Salzman Award in 2004 and the President’s Award in 2003 in the National Arts Club’s annual exhibiting-members shows, in New York City.

Jeanne Dobie is a nationally recognized artist, author, educator, and juror. Educated at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art [now the University of the Arts], she has served on the faculty of Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia.

Dobie is an elected member of both the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society, among other organizations. She has won many awards in national juried exhibitions, including the American Watercolor Society High Winds Medal and the National Watercolor Society Arches Paper Award.

Her well-known book, Making Color Sing (Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, New York), has sold more than 100,000 copies and is now available in paperback.

“I’m completely mesmerized by the dazzling effects of sunlight, so creating sun-drenched watercolors is a joy for me,” says Dobie. “There’s nothing so rewarding as watching viewers enter a scene and lose themselves in the luminous world I’ve painted.” Known for her fresh approach to color and design, she has conducted workshops throughout the United States and Europe.

She is represented in numerous collections, including the collection of the Frye Art Museum, in Seattle, and her work has been featured in articles and on the covers of American Artist and The Artist’s Magazine, as well as in various other U.S. and European publications.

Tom Fong, a native Californian, graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial design. He teaches on a regular basis at various colleges and is a guest instructor for the Yosemite National Park Association. He is a signature member and the former president of Watercolor West.

The artist’s watercolors are bold, spontaneous, and direct, and have been included in many national juried exhibitions and featured in publications such as Splash 6 (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio) and previously in American Artist.

Fong is a popular watercolor instructor who conducts many workshops, including ones at American Artist’s Art Methods & Materials Show, in Pasadena, California, at the Palm Springs Desert Museum, in California, and with the San Diego Watercolor Society. He has been asked to give watercolor demonstration series for both Watercolor West and the National Watercolor Society. He encourages students to paint “free and loose” through the creative spirit of intuition and improvisation, trusting it to help them make new discoveries.

Originally from upstate New York and a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Jean Grastorf first applied her skills to painting the rural countryside and small villages where she grew up. Now a resident of Florida, Grastorf works with the demanding medium of transparent watercolor to capture the luminous light falling on tropical foliage and water.

The artist has been awarded signature membership in various art societies, including the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society. She has been featured in numerous publications and has received several national awards, including those from the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, the Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors, the Midwest Watercolor Society, the Montana Watercolor Society, the Southern Watercolor Society, the Florida Watercolor Society, and Watercolor West.

A popular juror, Grastorf has also been a workshop instructor for more than 25 years and conducts workshops both across the United States and overseas. Her work is regularly shown in galleries and is held in various major corporate and museum collections.

Robbie Laird, a full-time resident of Lake Almanor, California, is an innovative painter, teacher, and juror who says of her work, “My paintings have multiple layers of meaning that provide a journey into the spirit of natural connections. I want to entice the viewer to explore beyond a literal depiction to find a feeling for the rhythms and intimacies within a subject.”

Laird’s continuing source of inspiration is her lifetime of interest in the cycles and connections in nature. She sometimes uses the unique qualities of flowing, transparent watercolor alone to create mysterious rhythmic works, while in other pieces she incorporates a variety of other watermedia to achieve the desired sense of intrigue.

The former president of the San Diego Watercolor Society, Laird is currently a signature member of Watercolor West and the National Association of Painters in Acrylic and is affiliated with other art associations across the nation. Her paintings and articles have appeared in several recent publications, including Watercolor, American Artist, and International Artist.

After completing her master’s degree in art education, Laird became a fine-arts curriculum consultant, giving workshops for teachers throughout California, the rest of the United States, and abroad. In addition to workshops for numerous West Coast art organizations, she has taught recently in Alaska; on Kauai, Hawaii; in Sedona and Prescott, Arizona; and in Kanuga, North Carolina, where she is the director of watermedia workshops at the Kanuga Conference Center, in Hendersonville, North Carolina. She has been a regular teacher at American Artist’s Art Methods & Materials Show, in Pasadena, California.

William “Skip” Lawrence is a nationally recognized painter, author, and teacher. He is chief contributor and co-author of The Palette Magazine and Watermedia Focus Workbook. He is the author of Painting Light and Shadow in Watercolor (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio) and his work is regularly included in other books, magazines, and national publications. Lawrence is also a frequent juror for various national and international exhibitions.

An articulate teacher who brings warmth and humor to his classes, Lawrence believes “the search is more important than the find” and emphasizes using enriched color as a tool to convey emotional content. By sharing personal experience and professional insight, Lawrence helps students relax in the face of artistic challenges.

“Creativity is a difficult word,” he says, “because people think it has some magical quality. Really, creativity is following some sort of idea to some sort of conclusion—even if it means going down the wrong road, getting lost, and incorporating that experience into what you’re doing. When you find your own unique approach to working through problems, creativity manifests itself in your work.”

Lawrence recently received the High Winds Medal from the American Watercolor Society. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore, and a Master of Art degree from Towson State University, also in Baltimore.

An internationally known painter, curator, juror, and teacher, Katherine Chang Liu is a full-time exhibiting artist whose work has been featured in various books and magazine articles. She holds a Master of Science degree from the University of California at Berkeley, is a recipient of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and has taught for museums and numerous national and regional art groups since 1978.

When Liu first started painting, she used watercolor to render her traditional landscapes, then she switched to acrylic because it was more conducive to color-layering, which she enjoys. She also often adds collage to her work. Liu, who has shown her work in more than 40 solo exhibitions, brings a special perspective to the medium that comes from her dual cultural heritage, her academic studies, and her experiments in watercolor dynamics.

The artist’s work is held in more than 950 public, corporate, and private collections in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, and Europe—including the collections of the Chrysler Museum of Art, in Norfolk, Virginia; Georgetown University, in Washington, DC; the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in Kowloon; IBM; General Electric; and the Chemical Bank of New York.

Liu is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and is among the most sought after jurors in the country.

Tom Lynch is a popular teacher who focuses on developing a student’s individual needs. He has a passion for teaching, and that same passion is evident in his work. His paintings not only report facts but also express the moods, feelings, and emotions of a place. For 25 years, students from all over the world have attended his workshops.

In his books, television series, workshops, and numerous videos, Lynch has been happy to share his expertise. He has written six books on watercolor, and his latest, Tom Lynch’s Watercolor Secrets (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio), has received international acclaim. He has a unique way of tapping into the creative process, prodding the creative instinct, and gently pushing the student to explore and fulfill his or her own artistic abilities.

Lynch’s credentials include election into the American Impressionist Society and signature membership in many national watercolor societies. He was honored with a one-man exhibition at the American Embassy, in Paris. His work has also been included in numerous publications including International Artist, The Wall Street Journal, and previously in American Artist. He has also been the featured artist for the men’s, women’s, and seniors’ U.S. Open Golf Championships and several Professional Golfers’ Association events and tournaments.

Dean Mitchell is recognized as one of the finest painters in America. A native of Quincy, Florida, he received his formal training at Columbus College of Art & Design, in Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and an honorary master’s degree.

Mitchell was one of the youngest artists ever accepted into the National Watercolor Society, and his work has won hundreds of awards, including first prize at London’s T.H. Saunders International Artist and Watercolour Show, the Hubbard Art Award for Excellence, the Arts for the Parks 1999 Juried Exhibition Grand Prize, the Gold Medal of Honor from the American Watercolor Society, and top honors from the National Watercolor Society. In addition, Mitchell has been honored with numerous one-man shows and is included in Paul Johnson’s Art: A New History (HarperCollins, New York, New York). In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service commissioned Mitchell to create a series of postage stamps honoring jazz musicians. Mitchell is also the subject of an upcoming documentary, Dean Mitchell: The Making of a Master.

His work is included in the permanent collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, in Kansas City, Missouri; the St. Louis Art Museum, in Missouri; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, in Kansas City, Missouri; Mississippi Art Museum, in Biloxi; the Greenwich Workshop, in Seymour, Connecticut; the Arkansas Arts Center, in Little Rock; and the Xerox Corporation. Mitchell is also an accomplished egg tempera, oil, graphite, and pastel artist.

Barbara Nechis grew up in the New York City area, but she now lives and maintains a studio in the Napa Valley of Northern California. In New York City, she has been a faculty member at Parsons The New School for Design and has taught seminars and workshops at Pratt Institute’s Manhattan Center, as well as throughout the rest of North America and abroad. She encourages her students to be self-guiding and to call upon their inner resources to provide a wellspring of artistic ideas.

Nechis is the author of Watercolor From the Heart (Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, New York) and Watercolor the Creative Experience (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio). Her work appears in many other publications and collections, among them the collections of the Butler Institute of American Art, in Youngstown, Ohio; IBM; and Citicorp.

Her paintings, deeply rooted in nature, are innovative and lyrical and have been included in juried exhibitions of the National Academy of Design and the National Arts Club, both in New York City, and the Hudson River Museum, in New York, among others. Nechis served as a juror and the director of the American Watercolor Society, where she continues to hold signature membership. She has been a guest demonstrator for organizations such as the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, the National Academy of Design, in New York City, and the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour.

Alex Powers has been a self-employed painter and art teacher since 1970. He exhibits in galleries in six states, juries various national exhibitions, and teaches eight to 10 workshops per year in the United States and Canada. He received the Gold Medal from the 1997 American Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition, among many other national juried-exhibition awards. Powers is also the author of Painting People in Watercolor, A Design Approach (Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, New York), now in paperback.

Powers’s painting style has evolved into one that focuses on personal, content-dominated imagery. Using gouache, charcoal, pastel, and sometimes collage on illustration board, Powers employs a loose realism that combines an emphasis on drawing with an awareness of the art of our time. Often he connects the illustration boards to produce work up to 15 feet in length.

“I attempt to deal with issues such as human origins, religion, philosophy, and economic inequality,” says Powers. “These overwhelming issues are difficult to deal with, but they are what interest me. And, since I believe in the singularity of life and art, these issues are the content of my life and my current work.”

Stephen Quiller is an internationally known painter who works primarily in watermedia, monotypes, and intaglio printmaking. He is best known for his innovative approach to watermedia painting (watercolor, gouache, acrylic, casein, and their combinations) and for his use of color. He has written five books: Water Media Techniques; Water Media: Processes and Possibilities; Color Choices; Acrylic Painting Techniques; and Painter’s Guide to Color (all Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, New York). The “Quiller Wheel,” a color wheel for painters that the artist researched and developed, is now used by thousands of painters around the world. In addition, he has developed 12 instructional videos, all produced by Crystal Productions.

Quiller has painted in many parts of the world, but is primarily known for his work done at or near his home in the high mountains of Southern Colorado. The subjects of these paintings include beaver ponds, snow shadows, water patterns, wild irises, and mountain rhythms—all capturing the spirit of the San Juan Mountains. The artist is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, Rocky Mountain National Watermedia, and the National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic, among others. In 1997 he received the Walser Greathouse Medal and cash award in the 130th American Watercolor Society exhibition.

Quiller’s paintings have been on the covers and the subject of articles in various leading art magazines. He has also been an invited juror for a number of regional and national art exhibitions. A popular workshop instructor, Quiller teaches his approach to color, watermedia, composition, and on-location painting throughout North America and internationally.

Chris Van Winkle is a California artist with roots in Canada, having studied at both the Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, California, and the Ontario College of Art & Design, in Toronto. He studied extensively with Robert Hallett and with the legendary Milford Zornes, among others. For the past 15 years, Van Winkle has taught watercolor at Citrus College, in Glendora, California.

A signature member of both the National Watercolor Society and Watercolor West, Van Winkle currently serves as the president of the National Watercolor Society.

He has conducted workshops in California, traveled and painted throughout the rest of the United States and Canada, and has led painting trips to Europe. In workshops, Van Winkle encourages students to put excitement into their work by using descriptive, decorative, impressionist, and expressionist techniques.

Janet Walsh attended the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League of New York, both in Manhattan. She has studied with renowned artists Mario Cooper, Burt Silverman, Daniel Greene, and Francis Criss.

Walsh is the president of the American Watercolor Society and a Fellow in the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, London. She also holds memberships in the Art Students League of New York, Allied Artists of America, the National Arts Club, the Kentucky Watercolor Society, and the Artists’ Fellowship, and is an honorary member of the Salmagundi Club, in New York City.

In addition to painting, Walsh writes and teaches. Her book, Watercolor Made Easy (Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, New York), has been reprinted many times since 1994. She has also developed a series of four instructional videos based on the painting approaches outlined in her book.

Among the awards Walsh has received are the American Watercolor Society’s Bronze Medal of Honor, The Edgar A. Whitney Award, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Award, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Award, the Winsor & Newton Award, and the Trails and Streams Award and Medallion.

Her work is in the collection of Progresso Corporation, Pfizer Corporation, Avon Products, Leroy Springs & Company, St. Antonin Noble Val, and the National Watercolor Museum, in Mexico City.

Frank Webb is one of the nation’s premier watercolor teachers. He studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and privately with Raymond Simboli and Edgar Whitney. Working as a professional artist since 1947, Webb has received more than 90 major awards, including a Dolphin Fellowship from the American Watercolor Society. He is also a member of the National Watercolor Society, Audubon Artists, and Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Association, among many other art organizations.

Known for their energetic compositions and fresh, clean color, Webb’s paintings have appeared in invitational shows in Mexico, Scotland, England, Canada, Australia, and the Republic of China. He has written three books, including Webb on Watercolor (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio).

Since 1980, Webb has conducted hundreds of painting workshops throughout the United States and around the world, sharing his own intelligent sense of humor and whimsical style while simultaneously encouraging his students to recognize and nurture their personal vision, sharpen their craft, and awaken a critical view of their own production.

Beth Patterson is an artist, teacher, and writer living and working in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. A signature member of the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, and Watercolor West, she was recently named a member of the Watercolor USA Honor Society. Her work is featured in Splash 5 and Splash 6 (both North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio).

Read more features like this from the fall 2006 20th anniversary issue of Watercolor magazine.

At the Old Forge Art Center Waterclor Show in New York, I purchased “Alpine Lake” by Chris Van Winkle. Five of the artworks in my living room had to be rearranged because of this recent purchase. It is magnificent. Thank you.

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